Jnetics on Campus
Information

These are genetic disorders which are more common in people who have Jewish ancestry than those in the general population.

This does not mean that only Jewish people are affected, but it does mean that Jewish people, or those of Jewish descent, have an increased risk of having one of these conditions.

Tay-Sachs disease is the best-known example of a JGD, but research has identified a number of other serious disorders that can potentially be prevented through carrier screening.

Carrier screening gives people the opportunity to find out if they are a ‘carrier’ of a genetic condition. Carriers of recessive disorders are typically not affected themselves but are at increased risk of passing on a genetic condition if their partner is also a carrier of the same disorder. Screening involves taking a cheek swab and testing it to see if there is a ‘mutation’ (a genetic fault or alteration) for a particular genetic disorder.

The Jnetics screening covers 47 of the most severe recessive genetic disorders that are relatively more common in either Ashkenazi or Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews.

A full list of the disorders covered by Jnetics screening can be found here.

While Jewish genetic disorders vary in severity, those covered by Jnetics can all be severely debilitating and most cause shortened lifespan. At this time most lack any effective treatment but can be prevented through effective carrier screening. Though rare, these conditions are devastating and can typically occur even when there is no known family history.

Unless screened, carriers often go undetected until it is too late. The best time to screen for these conditions is before starting (or growing) a family as it gives people the greatest number of reproductive options available should they be at risk of having an affected child.

The disorders covered in this screening programme follow an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern, shown in the diagram. This means that two copies of an altered gene must be present for the disorder to develop.

The diagram demonstrates that if both parents are carriers of the same disorder (they each carry a single altered gene), then each child will have a 25% chance of inheriting two copies of the altered gene and being affected by the disorder. For every pregnancy, there is also a 50% chance that the child will be a carrier but not develop the genetic condition themselves.

Testing is available for anyone aged 16 or over, at university, who has at least one blood Jewish grandparent.